Outpatient visits for flu-like illness dropped for a second week in a row but remained above the peak seen during many flu seasons, federal officials say. They predict that flu activity is likely to remain elevated for several weeks. During the week ending February 17—week 7 of this flu season—the…

The second time proved to be the charm for the U.S. House of Representatives to pass right-to-try legislation that would provide terminally ill patients access to experimental drugs without the approval of the FDA, according to a BioSpace article. The House approved a second bill with a 267–149 vote…

Disappointing results in the phase 3 RESULT trial have led Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., to discontinue development of its drug candidate Sollpura for the treatment of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency due to cystic fibrosis. Sollpura failed to meet the trial’s primary endpoint: noninferiority in…

The FDA has permitted marketing of the Dexcom G6 (Dexcom, Inc.) integrated continuous glucose monitoring (iCGM) system for determining blood glucose levels in patients two years of age and older with diabetes. This is the first type of continuous glucose monitoring system permitted by the agency to…

The FDA has expanded the indication for nilotinib (Tasigna, Novartis) to include treatment of first- and second-line pediatric patients 1 year of age or older with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia in the chronic phase (Ph+ CML-CP). In the United States, nilotinib is now indicated…

The multiple sclerosis medication daclizumab (Zinbryta, Biogen/AbbVie) is being withdrawn from the market voluntarily following reports that it has been associated with inflammatory encephalitis and meningoencephalitis. The two companies said that “characterizing the complex and evolving benefit/risk…

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has released new NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology intended to help make sure people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection who are diagnosed with cancer receive safe, necessary treatment. In 2010, an estimated 7,760 people…

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has laid out a bevy of initiatives that officials said would reduce drug prices for patients covered by the Medicare Part D prescription drug program—but they have made no decisions yet on an issue that has confounded lawmakers and patients alike,…

The Justice Department is seeking court permission to participate in settlement negotiations aimed at resolving lawsuits by state and local governments against opioid manufacturers and distributors, according to a Reuters report. The Justice Department said in a brief that it wanted to participate in…

Solanezumab, a monoclonal antibody-based treatment for Alzheimer’s disease developed by Eli Lilly that targets amyloid plaques, did not significantly slow cognitive decline, according to a report published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers have proposed that Alzheimer’s disease…

Seven public health and medical groups have filed a lawsuit challenging an FDA decision that they said would allow e-cigarettes to remain on the market for years without regulatory review, Reuters reports. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, argued the FDA in August improperly…

Looking for healthy folks? Take a trip to San Francisco or Seattle, WalletHub suggests. But if your journey takes you through Brownsville or Laredo, Texas, don’t bother stopping. With health care costs rising and U.S. life expectancy declining for the second year in a row, the personal-finance website…

It’s no mystery why this country has both the highest per capita health care costs and the lowest overall percentage of people with coverage. The two are connected, but as if on a teeter-tooter: As one goes up, the other goes down.

The alarmingly high number of pediatric deaths so far during the 2017–2018 flu season reinforce the need to shift away from the traditional chicken-egg-based approach to mass production of commercial influenza vaccines, according to consultant GlobalData. The egg-based vaccines commonly induce a suboptimal…